iPod touch with camera, 11.6-inch MacBook Air expected this year

So the 11.6" MacBook Air is going to be one expensive netbook. Wow.

So it appears that Apple made the decision (once again), that form is more important than function. They're using the less capable 3 megapixel camera in the iPod touch simply because it's slightly smaller than the 5 megapixel camera in the iPhone 4. They refuse to simply make the case slightly bigger to accomodate the better camera.

It's more likely they're trying to avoid cannibalizing sales of the iPhone 4.

It seems like they definitely have to hold stuff back from the touch, there's a huge difference in the price between the iPhone without subsidy and the iPod touch.

I expect the new MacBook Air will achieve a thinner form factor by eliminating the HD options and putting the SSD directly on the motherboard. That would also reduce cost and weight, while increasing performance and reliability.

I hope the display is 1280x800 (about 130dpi). Despite having just bought a 15" MacBook Pro with the HD anti-glare display, I will buy an 11.6" MacBook Air if it has 4GB of ram and an HD display.

Two scenario's:

1) Update of the Macbook Air

Macbook Air will likely have a 13'' screen as it does now.

As batteryperformance needs significant improvement to be of the same level of Macbook and Macbook Pro, the Macbook Air will need all the space AND the new Intel i-series low voltage processors OR one made by Apple itself, like the iPad and iPhone.

I guess that does not leave a lot of room to make the package even thinner and lighter.

And let us hope it will offer 3G simslot standard or the option to build-to-order one.

2) As the Macbook Pro 13'' and ipad 10'' leave not enough room for an extra niche product, the Macbook Air will cease to be after stock runs out.

I like this. I currently have a 3Gs, a 20" iMac and a MacBook.

I would like to eventually end up with a new 11" MBA and an iPad 3G and an iPhone 4.

Yes, there is a lot of 'overlap' but I would use the iPad for presentations and viewing content online, the iPhone to stay connected at all times on my days off and the MBA for work, website updates, reports, etc.

For the price of a 27" iMac, (~$2,500), I would be completely mobile and able to run my business out of my backpack!

As much as I enjoy my desktop, I prefer to work in a coffee shop or restaurant than sitting in my own den. Plus I would go from 2.5 hours of battery life on my MacBook to 10 hours on an iPad and probably 6 hrs. on a new MBA.

Thanks Apple!

Ps. I would also eliminate my Cable Internet service (~$40/mo, $500/year) and solely survive with ATT 3g which is pretty good in my area and free wifi in said restaurants.

Best

Only half right. The iPod Touch will be updated with a cell phone-type camera and the A4 processor (and double the memory).

OTOH, the 11.6" MBA concept is a pipe dream; they can't even work out the processor/chipset/GPU issues, let alone deliver a smaller form factor that few people will buy given the price point. Especially since the iPad is taking up the slack in demand for "smaller than a laptop, larger than an iPhone" product line.

Who makes this stuff up?

I have a friend that does the exact same thing except she uses a MBP with a 7 hour battery.....and now that Starbucks is offering free wifi life is good!
Hope you get what you want out of the products releases....

I'll have to buy a MacBook Air if Apple is going to kill it.

Sony was a bad comparison for the MBA, Toshiba has been making thinner and lighter Proteges since at least 2002. Apple's "portable" products are too hot to use on your lap and will break your back if you carry them daily.

Each has its place. You can put your own apps on Macs, and use standard x86 apps. Can't do that on iPad. It also has a regular keyboard.

There are places for each in the product lineup.

The issue will be price. I find it hard to believe that it will sell well if it's >$1000. I could imagine a lot being sold at $799 entry, $899 with options. Apple was agressive with price on iPad and that could be done again here.

Not sure how an 11.6 inch screen would allow for a full-sized keyboard, which is one of MBA's selling points. That said, I'd replace my first-gen MBA with a new souped up 13.3-inch version with built in 3G if it became available.

Even if this were true, so what? Apple is still taking your money. Why would they care which product you purchase? Or does Apple make a cut of AT&T's monthly rates?

The long awaited replacement for my powerbook 12".

Apple's iPhone is heavily subsidized by AT&T. No one knows the exact amount, but pundits estimate the subsidy to be $350-400 per handset. Apple no longer gets a cut of AT&T's revenue as with the original iPhone; the subsidy is a one-time payout.

Apple can't cry if you buy one Apple product in lieu of another, but without a doubt, the gross margin on the iPhone is stupendous.

This is a rumour, just as it has been rumoured, absurdly, that Apple is going to turn to OLED very soon.

It makes no sense for Apple to not use the exact same camera in the Touch that is found in the iPhone, if the Touch is to remain essentially an iPhone minus the phone part. Economies of scale means the cost per unit would go down as the number of units ordered goes up.

I'm not convinced that Apple will continue to design the Touch strictly as a variation of the iPhone. It's a device that cries out for a different set of specs better suited to what people are doing with the device. I realize that rumours are not pointing in that direction but on the other hand, the rumours being offered have gone in some puzzling directions, meaning that all we're getting is unimaginative guessing.

While sales of the Touch have been outstanding, if Apple stands still, that can change very quickly. As touch-screen devices multiply, and not just from Apple, a device like the Touch that has no phone element yet sports a very small screen, relatively speaking, risks becoming irrelevant. It would be logical to up the screen size of the Touch, while keeping it compact enough for it to remain pocketable. I don't think there's really room in Apple's line-up for both a Touch as currently sized and something that slots in between that and the iPad.

Design a Touch around the current screen, then design one around a 5" screen. Compare the devices. The 5" Touch would offer better browsing, e-reading, game play, video playback, and would certainly be better suited for displaying photos. The current Touch would more easily slip into one's pocket but would a Touch sporting a 5" screen be difficult to slip into a pant pocket? I have a notepad that I have slipped into my pocket without a second's thought often that measures 4" X 6". The Touch measures roughly 2.5" X 4.5". Plenty of room between those two for increasing screen size with a negligible impact on portability. One would presume a cost advantage for the current design but how much of an advantage? Up to this point the Touch has shared a screen with the iPhone but the iPhone just went to the Retina display. Put a larger screen on the Touch but with the same resolution as the Retina display and chances are you have similarly priced screens. The larger screen would possess lower pixel density and hence likely be easier to produce.

What are the odds that after a very minimal update to the Touch last year, Apple would merely take the Touch as is and tack on a 3-megapixel camera that would be inferior to a lot of phone cameras, including the iPhone. At the very least you'd figure the next Touch would get the hardware bits from the new iPhone, including the Retina display, the 5-megapixel camera, faster processor, etc. It would not be a shock if Apple went beyond such an obvious update, evolving the Touch into something more than an iPhone variant. What people use the Touch for has evolved and as such isn't it logical to evolve the hardware to better accommodate what it's being used for? To do otherwise seems rather un-Apple-like.

Well, that's a lame statement, because we all know that Apple doesn't announce dead products, it simply removes them from the stores

Given how the MBA is nice pocket change for Apple though, I don't think they'll kill it yet. Especially when it can be used as test-driving new technologies for the Macbook Pro, like it was for the unibody construction.

The 12" PowerBook had a full-size keyboard.

An 11.6 inch MacBook Air would make so much more sense than the current version which effectively negates any gains in portability/size by having virtually the same footprint as the MacBook Pro 13... the whole 'thinness' thing is so played out.

If they're smart, they'll market this as the true netbook/thin & light competitor and price it accordingly.

Got to love rumors.

I am not giving much credence to the iPod Touch one at all.

First, Steve Jobs was pushing the FaceTime thing so hard with the iPhone4 I thought he was going to have a hernia. And given the numbers he posted for FaceTime capable devices I will be absolutely shocked if the iPod Touch doesn't have a FaceTime capable camera. A still camera, I don't think they care nearly as much about.

The MBA might be real.

Given the economy of scale I am also skeptical of the move from the 13" screen on the MBA to an 12" screen (yes, I know I rounded). The 13" screen is the same size as the one used in the MacBook and the MacBook Pro 13". If they were to use the same screen in all three of these product lines then they can bring down the cost of all of them. Moving the MBA to a size that no other product in their lineup uses doesn't make a lot of sense from this direction.

That being said, there might be other concerns, and Apple is pretty well known for not caring a whole lot about the price.

A smaller screen would help with battery life, and would allow them to make it lighter. I honestly don't know about this one, but my gut says it won't happen.

That was good for a giggle, thanks.

Thanks!

If the snapshots of iPod touch cases I've seen are accurate, there's no flash on the new touch. The cases look like they have a single hole in the upper middle of the back.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=49021

The i3 ULV processor doesn't have turbo boost. I can't honestly believe Apple will drop the MBA from a 1.86 or 2.13GHz processor to a 1.2GHz one. It does at least have hyper threading so that would be 2 real and 2 virtual cores @ 1.2GHz instead 2 at the current speeds, but they would lose out on the NVIDIA graphics and have to accept much worse Intel IGPs. This just doesn't seem very credible.


Also, as far as the iPod Touch camera goes, maybe they will use a 3MP camera, but have a reversed sensor like the iPhone 4 has to allow for nicer pictures.

Even if this does happen, i can't see it being priced less than $1000. That would totally cannibalize sales of the iPad. If you had the choice of two Apple products for the same price, one running iOS and one running OSX, why wouldn't you take the one running OSX? No iOS and OSX-running products in Apple's lineup are priced the same, probably for this reason.

MBA... meh... I still want a 15" MBP without DVD drive.

As for the guy excited to work from Starbucks WiFi and on 3G, I hope whatever you do is very low bandwidth. I find remote (Starbucks, etc) wifi to be painfully slow for large transfers (synchronizing small web servers). Its fine for browsing, not fine for working. The same goes for 3G data, there is a LOT of overhead in the published speeds.

Finally for the person arguing the camera will be the same because of economies of scale, this is a false argument. Yes the unit cost of building 1000 items vs 1 is less, ASIs building 1m instead of 1000. But eventually it plataues as capitial costs per unit approach zero and 200m isn't different from 100m. Apple could easily justify the extra penny or two per unit to differentiate the products by having different cameras. Not saying they will, just that it's a false argument as to why.

an 11.5" MBA would be too similar to an ipad. not going to happen. as for the chincy 3.3 megapixel camera - i hope that's not true - i hope it's the same as the iphone 4 but apple might want to keep the iphone 4 a notch better...

i have an ipad and a mba and i have to say i mainly use the ipad for games. i'm taking a few trips this summer so maybe the ipad can prove it's real worth to me.

my buying advice for people with no computer:

if you can afford only one get a macbook (pro or air)
if you can afford more, you might want to get an imac 27" & an ipad.

no one really needs both a macbook and ipad.

True, but you're not understanding Apple's basic business model and target audience.

The typical Apple customer has lots of disposable income; it's one of the most desirable demographics in the entire consumer electronics industry. Something like 85-90% of Mac households also have a Windows PC.

Apple is selling their devices to people who can afford to have several Apple gadgets. The guy that has an iPad probably has an iPhone, a Mac, and a Windows PC. And probably a Blu-ray player, game console, Kindle, etc.

That's why Apple's gross margins are so fat. They are selling to rich professionals who want one of each, not cash-poor fanboi students or people on the dole.

My dream work setup:

All my current projects on an 11 MacBook Air, ready to grab and run out the door.

But at home/office, Id use the Air simply as a server, feeding my files (with no sync needed) to a Mac Pro with a nice big screen Documents would load slower than local storage, but the convenience and flexibility would be well worth it.

Now... to find some money lying around...

While I agree with your idea of combining a conventionall Mac with an iPad, I believe the iMac is inherently flawed. Myself I'd get either a MB or one of the desktop units (Mini or Pro) combined with a quality display to compliment an iPad (the iPad is not the same thing as a MacBook, especially the Pro series).

The iMac combines an LCD screen with a life expectancy of around 12 years with a computer that can't last that long unless you spend a lot of money on maintenance. By maintenance I'm meaning replacing harddrives every three or four years and doing the same to maintain up-to-date iLife and OS software. I'm not factoring in other possible issues with the iMac's other components but there could be other costs involved iin trying to keep the computer running long enough to get full use out of the LCD.

Far better to buy a Cinema Display or less costly monitor to combine with a computer that you can replace when the time is right without worrying about the monitor. The cost of the Mini is low enough that if you trade-in the unit every couple of years, that covers the cost of maintaining the software and harddrive, yet your cost is minimal. I traded in a Mini last year and got close to half what the unit cost me new. Most of what it cost for me to buy the new machine (factoring in trade-in credit) is roughly comparable to buying a harddrive+new OS+new iLife suite. Six, seven years from now the Mini will be running more capable hardware than the current iMac. I like that set-up a lot more than the notion of running a 2010 circa iMac in 2017. The iMac looks better now but that advantage is short-term only.

thinner, no longer wedge shaped (or as wedge shaped), more ports, glossy black rim around screen, and no button on the trackpad (thanks to more room at the trackpad end)

my $0.02

images for illustration purposes only, copyrighted by me, 2010.

This would make a great light and small Mac tablet!!!

Ok, I know some people are not agree with my opinion:


MacBook 11.6"

- Q4 2010

- No more touchpad

- Touch Screen

- Introducing a new version of Mac OS with an iOS interface and touch screen support (as well as for standard mouse)

- Price: $1500

The iPod Touch will definitely contain the front and back dual cameras.
Apple is going to push FaceTime standard as far and as fast as they can.
In fact, I feel pretty sure Apple will not make any handheld device without both a front and rear camera ever again.

Very pretty, but the screen shell would have no strength at all.

Core i-series means no NVidia GPU. OpenCL would still run on the CPU so not a huge problem for this class of user but it won't match the Macbook performance like the 9400M did.

They can still use the 320M along with the same Core 2 Duo they use now.

I'd rather see this model priced below the entry MBP. Even replace the white plastic Macbook at $999. Sure people will call it a netbook but it's not when it has a 7 hour battery life with a full Core 2 Duo + 320M.

What it would lack would be Firewire 800 and ethernet but these can be replaced easily with 3-4 USB 3.0 ports. Removing the optical from this audience would be the big move needed to phase out optical drives in the Pro models.

11.6" isn't terribly small - they used to have a 12" powerbook and the size was fine. Now the weight would be significantly less. I reckon with a smaller display, they can stop worrying about making it artificially thin by tapering it, just put in a 2.5" drive and work to that height but keep the number of ports usable.

I agree, think that the new iPod Touch will fall inline with the new iPhone 4 in design will have a storage capacity of 128 Gb at the high end.

Know what else is expected this year?

12-core Mac Pro
Verizon iPhone
Refreshed iPods
Refreshed AppleTVs
New Final Cut Pro Studio w/Open CL support
Etc.

Still waiting...